First Time Flyer
by Afterworld EverDawn
Summary: Ginny takes Lily on a broom for the first time; Lily bonds with the Scamander twins; and some strange instances of "accidental magic" make for an eventful day.
1. First Time Flyer

[][Flying Lesson][]

Ginny fixed the scarf around Lily's neck before kissing her forehead affectionately. Lily craned her head back as she watched her mum stand up again, taking hold of one of her hands when she heard her call for Dad to come say goodbye.

"My girls off to the country then?"

"We are. And you boys?"

"Lunch and Quidditch," Dad replied, rolling up his other shirt sleeve. Lily watched him silently, analyzing the way his fingers moved the fabric with such ease. She dropped Mum's hand and pushed her coat sleeves up her arms clumsily.

Ginny leaned forward and gave Harry a quick kiss, "Love you."

"Love you too, see you for supper." Then Lily glanced up and suddenly she was rising through the air, arms outstretched to wrap around the neck of her beloved Dad. "Love you too Lils,"

"I love you _so_ much!" she replied, letting go of his neck so she could rest her nose against his, "See you for supper."

"See you for supper," and he returned her to the floor.

Mum curled her fingers around Lily's hand and the living room spun out of focus. When the world came back into focus they were standing in the little grove of trees in the river park near their house. Lily watched as Mum used her wand, a smile making her beautiful face so much more pretty. "Would you like to fly today?"

"Can we really?" Lily's eyes lit up at the sight of a broomstick revealing itself from the concealment charm. "We'll get in trouble though."

Mum made a small dismissal gesture. "Not today, not if we're smart - and us Potter girls are the smartest around, aren't we?"

"We are!" Lily cheered, overcome with delight. However, just to make sure everything was clear, she asked, "So there's no rules today?"

"There's always rules. But rules are made to be ignored every now and again. It'll be our secret, what do you think?"

Lily nodded, "I think it's a good secret."

She lifted her arms so Mum could pick her up and place her on the broom securely. It felt weird and wobbly; she was determined not to fall off because if Albus and James could do it she could do it too! And besides, it wasn't even _that_ scary. Lily felt it as Mum mounted the broom behind her. "I need you to hold tight, okay baby? I'm right here, so don't worry, and we'll start slow."

"It's okay Mum, I got this." Lily gripped the broom like she was trying to strangle the magic clean out of it, leaning forward so she was closer just like she saw Mum do in videos of Quidditch games.

The broom started to glide forward smoothly, travelling not super far above the ground and just fast enough that Lily could feel a definite wind in her hair. "We'll have to go higher if we want to really get going. Are you ready?"

She could hear Mum behind her, could feel the invisible binding around her tummy holding her to Mum in case anything happened. "I'm ready!" she declared fearlessly. Instantly the broom kicked upward. All of the green and brown of woodland fell away as the blue and white of sky engulfed her.

Lily could feel the ends of her scarf bucking in the wind, could taste the pending rain in the air, could feel the chill in her nose and lungs. She was terrified and excited and utterly in awe of what was happening. There was nobody else up there with them. Just clouds and sky and her thighs crushing the broom between her chubby little legs. _I'm flying!_ her mind cheered and she spread her fingers apart to feel the air rush between them in the same way as water - before she realized she'd let go of the broom to do that and quickly returned her hands to their proper place. She didn't want Mum to think she was being foolish and take the privilege away. Knowing her mum couldn't see her face though, Lily smiled mischievously, knowing full well she'd do _that_ again next chance she was alone.

Glancing down she saw the miniature houses on their tiny streets roll past slower then she expected. Her stomach worked itself into knots, enough that Lily decided not to look down anymore. Maybe if she looked down she'd fall; maybe if she never looked down she would never fall?

"Almost there," Mum spoke into her ear, leaning close so that Lily could feel her presence along her back. The broom began to descend toward the lush green and brown earth. As it did, a spiral-looking house with a tower and uneven windows grew ever-larger in front of them.

The arched front door opened and a blonde woman stepped out onto the porch to greet them. "Aunty Luna!" Lily exclaimed. In her excitement, she loosened her hold on the broom entirely and before either her or Mum could react, Lily slid clean off the broom. For a stunning three seconds Lily felt suspended in the air, watching the ground continue to approach. She lifted her hands to protect her face from the hard looking ground, wishing it was something softer - something felt like it snapped - _splash!_

Lily gasped, rolling out of the water onto the dirt laneway with a sputter of shock.

Ginny jumped from the broom, landing in a run to get over to her baby girl. _How had the binding thread snapped?! Where had the water come from?_ she fell to her knees beside Lily and pushed her hair out of her face. "Lily!"

"Mum?" Lily coughed, rubbing her eyes only to smear more dirt on her face. "I'm so _sorry_!"

"You're not hurt?"

"Are you mad? I let go - now we'll never fly again!" her eyes were welling with tears of shame, but they vanished as Mum pulled her into a fierce hug.

"No I'm not mad. I'm grateful you're not hurt. You're one lucky kid you know that?"

Luna had come hurrying down the lane toward them, wand out and feet bare. "Is everyone alright?"

"Yes, she's fine. Little tumble, but otherwise the first ride was a success." Mum smiled, and it made her look even more beautiful then she always looked. She helped Lily stand up, and with a wave of her wand dried her hair.

"Oh good," Luna sighed pleasantly. "Well it's good there was that groove of water there to help cushion no doubt. If you like Lily the boys are in the den."

"Bye!" and Lily took off running toward the house like she hadn't just fallen fifteen feet to the ground.

Ginny waited until her daughter was out of earshot before saying to Luna, "Thank you for casting the water -weird choice, but thank you. I'm sure she would have broken something otherwise."

Luna gave Ginny a confused look. "Oh hun, I didn't cast anything. I tried but my was perception off - glasses," she said, indicating to the fact that her glasses were in fact on her head and not in front of her eyes as they should have been.

Ginny stopped, staring from Luna and back at the water. "But I didn't do that either."

"You've got a powerful daughter then I'd say."

Ginny walked back to the water, muttered an incantation and absorbed the results with sheer bewilderment.

[][Occamys][]

Lorcan was quick to welcome Lily into his game of cars, a setup which involved a small army of mini toy cars enchanted to hover around and a series of buildings fashioned out of bulky plastic building-blocks. Lysander however didn't seem too thrilled that Lily had walked herself into their space, and immediately left the game to go skulk inside the blanket fortress erected between two couches and a stolen kitchen chair.

Lily liked the twins because they were like having more brothers, but the same age as her. That was important, because that meant they could all do the same things unlike her real brothers, who had more privileges because they were older. Like James could go to the park with his friends by himself because he was ten; and Albus could stay up until nine o'clock because he was almost nine. She couldn't go anywhere without Mum or Dad, and she had to be in bed by eight all the time because she was only six. Not for long though.

"So you make sure your cars are all together in the red house part of the city, and I make sure my cars are in the yellow and green part of the city, okay?" Lorcan instructed, more preoccupied with arranging his cars and making driving noises rather then paying attention to what Lily was doing with her allotted set of toys.

She nodded her understanding, trying to roll up her shirt sleeves like she'd seen Dad do before. For a bit they played before Lily grew bored of the game and wandered off. It took Lorcan all of two minutes before he gathered the leased cars back into his collection with a satisfied grin.

Lily walked to the edge of the blanket fort and stood outside of the understood entrance. "Hello, is anyone home?"

"No girls allowed," came Lysander's response.

"Well that's mean. How come?"

"Because... because."

Lily frowned, folding her arms. "Because isn't a really good answer you know."

The blankets shifted, then the one used as the entrance moved back and Lysander appeared. "Because is a good answer."

"Nu-uh, not if you're trying to make a point, obviously." Lily remembered hearing her mum saying that sometime before. It sounded smart, that's why she repeated it.

"No girls because girls aren't supposed to be in the fort."

"Why?"

"Only boy things are in the fort," and with that, he dropped the blanket back over the entrance and was gone.

Lily huffed in reply and planted herself firmly on the floor outside of the fort. She glanced around the room, taking in the photos of cool animals and strange looking plants. Some of the figurines on the mantel moved around their stands. She wondered where they came from. One in particular looked like a snake, but it had wings and a bunch of feathers on it's head. Wanting to see it close-up Lily stood and walked over to the mantel. She stretched but feel a couple feet short of her goal. Furrowing her brow, she reached again, mentally chanting _please please come here_ -

and the base settled in her hands seamlessly.

She lowered it rest eye level with her, and stared at it with widened eyes. How had that happened? She examined herself briefly - nope, she was still super short. Magic, she decided simply without knowing the full extent of the conclusion's truth.

"Hey, that's Dad's. How did you get it?"

Lily turned and saw Lysander emerged from the blanket fort, staring at her like he was both afraid she would break it and envious that she'd gotten it first. "I wanted to see it up close and it moved into my hands. It was magic."

"Really?" Lysander asked, not quite buying it.

"Mmhm, do you know what this snake is called?"

"That's not a snake, it's an occamy. They're really cool, and they have silver eggs and grow and shrink really quickly if they want to."

"That's so cool!"

"You think?"

"Duh, of course!"

Lysander's ears turned red, "I have a book on them if you wanna see it?"

"Can I?" Lily asked, nodding her enthusiasm.

"Yeah, it's in here," and he held open the fort entrance.

Lily gave him a look, "I thought it was for only boys."

"I lied. I didn't want to share, but now I do."

Lily considered his answer, looking at the occamy statue and back at him before deciding, "Okay, I forgive you," and smiling as she ducked into the fort after him.

[][Around the Table][]

As promised, Lily and Ginny returned home in time for supper. The whole flight home Ginny kept one arm securely around Lily's middle, convinced that she needed to contact Hermione to perfect that binding spell before she took Lily flying again. She'd never figure out that it was Luna's misplaced capture charm that severed the connection.

At the table, Harry asked after Luna and Rolf, while Lily explained to Albus and James all about occamy's. She held a monopoly over the conversation for such a long time that eventually Harry had to know, "Where did you learn all of this Lils?"

"Lysander's dad has all these books about them, and we were looking at all the pictures and everything and Lysander's really smart so he told me all these things he knows. I think occamy's are my favourite animals."

"I thought puppies were your favourite animals," James replied.

Lily gave him a look, "Puppies are my favourite Muggle animal James."

"There's a difference then," Albus replied.

"Of course," Lily confirmed smartly.

[][Remember][]

"So you and Lily had a good day then?" Harry asked his wife after he tucked James and Albus into their beds. She was standing in front of the dryer, shaking the wrinkles out of a tiny coat that had desperately needed a wash.

"Mmhm, we did," Ginny replied, smiling as he coiled his arms around her waist, burying his nose in her neck. His wild hair tickled her ear enough for her to giggle, turn and kiss that faded scar over his eye.

He kissed her properly. "Anything exciting happen?"

She made her thinking face, "Not that I can think of, no. The kids played, Luna and I talked about their upcoming move. Nothing too exciting."

"Huh,"

Ginny touched a pair of fingers under his chin, saying in a not-unkind tone, "You want to say something?"

"Only that your broom was missing earlier when I took the boys out to the field. It's back now, I checked." She didn't need to say anything. Her unwavering silence said it all. "I knew you were going to do that!"

"Oh come on you can't be upset - you got to teach both James _and_ Albus! I wanted to take Lily up her first time."

"I taught them because I was House Seeker in my first year, remember?"

"I played professional on the Harpies, remember?"

"Well ... well I'm the dad, it's my job to make sure they can fly properly. Besides," Harry softened his eyes, injecting a dose of storytelling grief into his voice as he continued, "what with Voldemort and all-"

"Oh please," Ginny laughed, pushing him away. "You just wanted the monopoly."

"One hundred percent," he agreed, laughter erasing the years on his face as he pulled her back to him. "So how'd our girl do then?"

Ginny wondered what she should tell him. "She did fantastic. You'd have been blown away by her fearlessness - she took her hands off the broom as we flew over the west end."

"God she's incredible that one - I think she's going to be our best, not that I have a favourite or anything," he joked.

She grinned, "Oh of course you don't. She did fall though - not far, fifteen-ish feet, and straight into a patch of water."

"A _patch_ of water?"

Ginny rolled back her shoulders. "There's no other way to explain it. Luna didn't conjure it, I didn't conjure it. It just appeared, a six foot patch of water that felt softer than silk."

"And you think Lily-"

"I _know_ she did. I just don't know _how_ she did."


	2. Lily Luna Year 1

**Chapter 2**

[][Herbology, Year One][]

With a firm shove Lily hit the ground _hard_. Her face seared almost instantly, and the tears came without regard for what was happening around her. A chorus of laughter rose from the group of older students. "Is poor Potter gonna cry?" one of them mocked, encouraging more snickering. Lily knew better this time then to reply, and was smart enough to stay down, arms covering her head, until the last pair of shoes sauntered away.

"Jerks," she muttered bitterly, pushing herself up and crawling over to the wall to sit down. Effortlessly, wandlessly, she gathered her scattered papers in a pile beside her and held the hem of her sleeve over her bleeding nose. Whatever their problem was, she was sick of them. _Stupid mean Hufflepuff jerks!_ she thought angrily, feeling small and pathetic. All she wanted was someone she knew who cared. She wanted Mum.

Once her nose stopped bleeding, she stood up and started on again toward her Herbology class. She was late by this point, but what did it matter? She was no good with plants, for one thing, and for another Professor Longbottom never wrote anyone into detention for being late unless they were also disruptive.

Sneaking in, she found her place at the end of the Slytherin bench and across from her cousin Roxie. Everyone seemed engaged in a writing activity, so Lily pulled out a notebook and pen and set to catch up.

"Pssst,"

She looked up and caught Roxie's eye. With a raised eyebrow, she asked silently, _Yeah?_

Roxie tapped a finger on her upper lip. _S_ _omething there._

Lily sighed, stopped writing and licked her thumb to scrub off what was probably blood. Then she tilted her chin as if to ask, _Good?_

Roxie gave a nod, lifted a finger and pointed to the door with a casual shrug. Translation: _Talk after?_

 _Yeah,_ Lily replied with a nod.

The lecture let out twenty-some minutes later with a flurry of stuffing papers and corking ink pots. While a few students had made the transition over to Muggle-based writing styles, most had continued on the tradition of ink quills. Lily preferred Muggle pens because they were mess free, an essential these days given the tendency for her things to be knocked out of her hands.

Roxie leaned across the work bench once her things were placed neatly in her rhinestone accented bag and asked, "So what happened?"

"Those Hufflepuff losers, again."

"Oh Lils, you really should just hex them. We both know they'd never figure out it was you."

"That's what Lucy suggested too. I don't want to provoke them though - that's why I haven't told anyone, you know."

Roxie gave a nod, "Except us, but I know what you're saying. Still though, I think if you do one of your silent magic tricks, it would send a message. 'Don't mess with me' type thing."

Silent magic tricks, that's what the Littles called Lily's knack for nonverbals. The Littles being Roxanne, Hugo, Lucy, and herself - Grandma Molly's youngest band of grandchildren. She'd been able to command magic without much instruction for as long as she could remember, but in the case of her bullies, she never seemed able to summon anything to take care of them. Hence the irritating cycle of 'oh why don't you just-' followed by 'well fighting back like that isn't the best option' which always left Lily feeling like an idiot.

"Yeah, maybe next time," Lily sighed.

Roxie gave her a quick hug, "Well I gotta go - if you need help just ask. I'm here for you you know." She smiled and skipped off to catch up with her Ravenclaws, her natural hair bobbing like a halo behind her.

"Lily, do you have a moment?"

Professor Longbottom was standing near the door, out of the path of students departing for the Great Hall to have lunch. Lily nodded, walked over as she pulled on her backpack. "I'm sorry I was late Professor. I'll get the notes for Arianna after school, I promise."

"I've created a copy for you already," he replied, handing her a duplicated couple pages of the notes on Bouncing Bulbs. "That isn't what I wanted to talk about though."

"Oh?" Lily felt like she knew exactly where this was heading, and she wasn't sure she wanted to talk about it ... even though she kind of really did.

Professor Longbottom gave a small nod, adjusting his square glasses. "You're not in trouble, by any means, but if you have something you need to talk about - whether it's school or about other students - I want you to know you can talk to me. I had similar experiences in my years at Hogwarts."

Lily looked at him, trying to picture him as some dorky little boy who got pushed around and made fun of by everyone else. Nothing came to mind. All she could picture was him as a younger man killing a Horcrux in the Battle of Hogwarts and helping defeat Voldemort. There was no way he was bullied.

As if he could read her mind, he added, "I know it's hard to imagine sometimes, especially because adults probably seem invincible, but I wouldn't say it if it wasn't the case. Both of you parents would be able to confirm it for you if you ask them."

"Okay, I will," she replied softly, beginning to take her leave of the greenhouse.

"This doesn't have to be who you are for seven years." She stopped, turning completely to look at him again. He was leaning against a work bench, hands in his robe pockets. "Sometimes being the one left out has a way of inspiring change."

"How do you mean?" Lily questioned, genuinely wanting to understand.

He gave a small shrug, "Something to mull over. Go eat, I'll see you day after next."

[][A Revelation][]

 _Dear Mum and Dad,_

 _School is great so far. Even though I was sorted into Slytherin, I've made a couple good friends. We hang out all the time and do our homework together in the common room before the older Slytherins come and take over for study groups. Arianna and I shared Herbology notes because I was late. She's a good classmate._

 _I haven't really seen much of James or Albus lately. I think James is busy with being Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, and Albus is already living in the library again I'm positive of it. I don't why though, he still has two years until his OWLs. James should be the one in the library all the time, but maybe he goes when I'm not there? I don't really know._

 _I also haven't really talked to Lucy or Hugo much. Lucy is always hanging around with her popular Hufflepuff friends and Hugo got matched up with someone else in our potions class for this module so we can't talk really._

 _I talked to Professor Longbottom today too. He said to ask you -_

Lily paused, wondering if she should tell her mum about what he'd said, about what had been happening to her ever since the Sorting Hall sentenced her to an academic career as a Slytherin. As if it wasn't bad enough that she looked nothing like her parents, nothing like a Potter or a Weasley. As if it wasn't bad enough that everyone had already made up their minds about who she should be and were utterly disappointed by who she actually was.

Scratching out the unfinished sentence she amended instead:

 _I talked to Professor Longbottom today too. He says hello, and hopes things are well with you both._

 _I love you lots,_

 _Lily_

She sealed her letter in an envelope and scrawled her address on the back. For a long while she sat on her bed and stared around the dormitory. What would it be like, she wondered, to not feel so insignificant? What would it feel like to be honest with her parents? Of course she could never tell them. They'd tell her things she'd heard her whole life, things like 'we're Potters and Potters stand up for themselves - Potters are a great and noble family - Potters defeated Lord Voldemort-'

Groaning she fell backward onto her pillows. What did it matter what Potters did? She wasn't a Potter, she was just Lily. James was a Potter - he made Quidditch captain in his fourth year. Albus was a Potter - he was top of his class in Transfiguration _and_ Potions. What was she good at? She was always part of some group she never asked to be a part of.

She was one of Grandma Molly's Littles; James and Albus' younger sister; the absolute youngest member of the Weasley-Potter clan. She was freakishly powerful, but not enough to actually be useful.

 _Enough!_ she shouted at herself, pounding her fists into the mattress.

"I am Lily Luna Potter!" she told herself firmly yet at a whisper. "Just because I haven't done anything great yet doesn't mean anything. There's still time. Who knows - I could start a revolution if I wanted to!"

Leaping off her bed she dressed in her outer wear and hurried off to the Owlery in the west tower. She was going to mail her letter, and then she had things to do. No more pity parties. No more letting bullies think they could get away with picking on her. She was Lily Luna - Potter be damned! No legacy was going to help her, so she'd just have to buck up and help herself.


End file.
